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Weather woes lead to USDA disaster-area aid for Michigan

By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The USDA has designated 74 counties in Michigan as disaster areas, all related to several weather events over the course of last year.

“We set a record for the number of growing-degree days last year,” said John Woodworth, the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) emergency coordinator and loan underwriter in Lansing. “Something happened last year in Michigan that nobody ever thought would happen. It was a real cool growing season. The lack of growing-degree days set the crop back three to five weeks.”

Woodworth said the FSA doesn’t have a category for the lack of growing-degree days, so it isn’t listed as a problem in any of the FSA’s news releases; however, the lack of growing-degree days was the underlying problem.

“In Michigan, we count on 105- to 110-day corn,” he said. “What happens when you end up with 120-day corn? That normal killing frost does you in. The soybeans were still doughy in the middle when the killing frost hit, and the corn was still in the milk stage.
“And then there was the moisture,” Woodworth explained. “We had a lot of rain, and that caused white mold. Farmers were in a bind. Either they take a chance with having white mold, or they would have to pay the elevator to dry it.”

At one point, he said, the agency was studying whether corn with white mold could be used for ethanol production, but the results of the study weren’t clear. During the latter part of the season heavy rains also caused a problem for farmers trying to get access to their fields.

For this latest announcement, Woodworth said the FSA was trying out a new format – and it’s caused some confusion. Normally it issues an announcement letter for each category. Each one can affect a number of counties.

For example, a late frost in the spring might result in one letter, heavy summer rains another, and so on. This time, four events were incorporated into one letter.

Event number 1: freeze, frost, excessive snow, low temperatures and cold weather occurred Jan. 1-July 24, 2009. Primary counties affected were Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Dickinson, Emmet, Iron, Menominee, Luce, Mackinac, Otsego and Presque Isle.

Contiguous counties, which are also eligible for disaster assistance, include: Alger, Alpena, Baraga, Crawford, Delta, Gogebic, Houghton, Marquette, Montmorency, Ontonagon, Oscoda and Schoolcraft.
Event number 2: excessive rain, flooding, flash flooding, hail, lightning, tornados and high winds occurring from April 1-Sept. 1, 2009. Primary counties affected were Bay, Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac and Ogemaw. Contiguous counties were Alcona, Alger, Antrim, Arenac, Crawford, Gladwin, Iosco, Oscoda, Otsego and Schoolcraft.

“We had quite a few storms go through last summer,” Woodworth said. “It covered a wide spectrum of the state.”

Event number 3: Drought occurring May 1, 2009, and continuing. The primary counties included Alger, Antrim, Baraga, Delta, Dickinson, Emmet, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw, Marquette, Menominee, Ontonagon, Otsego and Schoolcraft.

Contiguous counties were: Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Luce, Mackinac, Montmorency and Oscoda.

Event number 4: early frost, freeze and excessive rainfall, occurring Aug. 1, 2009, and continuing. Primary counties were Alcona, Alger, Alpena, Antrim, Charlevoix, Chippewa, Delta, Dickinson, Gladwin, Iron, Luce, Mackinac, Marquette, Menominee, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Otsego and Schoolcraft.

Contiguous counties were: Arenac, Baraga, Bay, Crawford, Gogebic, Houghton, Iosco, Ontonagon, Oscoda and Presque Isle.
Farm operators in other states, in the counties listed below, are also eligible for disaster assistance because they are contiguous to the Michigan primary disaster areas.

They include Indiana counties Elkhart, LaPorte, Lagrange, St. Joseph and Steuben; Ohio counties Fulton, Lucas and Williams; and Wisconsin counties Florence, Forest, Iron, Marinette and Vilas.
More information on the low interest loan program, as well as other FSA programs, is available at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov

2/10/2010